Motion Web
A series of motion prototypes for a navigable Netz, tested one by one on canvas. Two of them already left the lab: the current running through the words above and the packets crossing the mesh behind this gallery.
Where it came from
The site talked about networks and did not look like one. The identity had nodes, dots and connections in its language, and on screen it was one more dark site with a nice green.
The question that opened the series was simple: can the brand move like the thing it claims to be?
On the bench
We opened a series of numbered prototypes, each testing one idea on its own in canvas, with no obligation to become a page. A current running through a word. A packet finding its way across the mesh and lighting the node it reaches. A diagonal cut.
The rule was that it had to actually run in the browser. Motion that only exists in video hides its cost, and cost is what decides whether it becomes interface or stays in the lab.
Where it fits
It works as a brand layer for any project where the interface has to say something before the text is read. An in-house motion system is the kind of edge you cannot copy with a purchased theme.
Two prototypes already left the lab and are in production on this very page: the current runs through the words at the top, and the packets cross the mesh behind the experiment gallery.
What we learned
The brand holds motion when motion means something. The prototypes that became interface were the ones carrying the idea of a network; the purely decorative ones got tiring on the second visit.
The other lesson was about method: a motion prototype has to run in the browser from day one. In video everything works, and the cost only shows up when someone opens it on a phone.
Still open
The prototypes left out still need to come here, running live instead of turning into images, with the performance cost measured on each one. That is this page's next step.